Jump to the Plans below (April 2022) or the finished project (under Resources).

Our Design

Our design includes four attached buildings, including two covered car parking spaces. The design is comprised of a shared facilities building presenting to Angas Street and three attached living units located to the rear of the communal building. Private garden spaces are located to the north of each residence with entry access and private courtyards along the southern boundary.

The design of our small cohousing project has been modified over time thanks to input from community members and experts. The consideration of the Development Application also led to some changes.

• Where is Stellulata Cohousing?

• How did this get approved?

• Does this development fit with the local neighbourhood?

• Density

• Is this a sustainable design?

• The plans

The site, Block 6 Section 25, Ainslie, (Google map) has an area of 1090m2 and is located within an RZ1 Suburban Zone. The site is located in close proximity to the Macarthur Avenue and Ipima Street light rail stops on Northbourne Avenue and approximately 350m from bus services on Cowper Street.

Three dwellings would not normally get approved on an RZ1 block. From 2019, we had to work through a Territory Plan Variation (DV376) and then a Development Application (DA 2021 39685) which was finally approved on 20 April 2022 and the Building Approval was issued on 10 November 2022. See our History page and the earlier entries in our News section for more details of the process. With our DA approved, the variation to our lease finalised, the Building Approval issued, we went through a modified tender process and in September 2023, selected Alliance Building Group - ACT to build our new home.

We designed our small community to fit into the neighbourhood. From the street our building presents as a single structure and fits well within the solar envelope. We designed our development to ensure maximum green space on the site. Our plot ratio is around 40% which is less than what is accepted for single dwellings in RZ1.

The design and land usage complements the RZ1 desired character. The development is within an established suburban neighbourhood, and consistent with single residences, it has only one street address with one letterbox. The density, scale, height, materiality, and the area dedicated to private open space also conform. The front and side setbacks, building envelope and solar fence are all respected and comply with the codes current at the time. The scale, height and bulk are appropriate in the established Angas Street streetscape, the suburban RZ1 zone and the surrounding and adjacent sites.

The buildings are of a scale, massing and bulk which directly respond to the principles that underlie design for ageing in place, flexibility of occupation and living in a garden city. The development engenders a firm commitment to wellbeing in design.

The central idea of our cooperative housing model is to establish three 2-bedroom units for private households and a communal building with shared facilities. The number of units is restricted by the size and orientation of the site. Passive solar principles and integrated garden space are fundamental to the development, the resultant built form and to the philosophy of our community.

The project has a plot ratio of around 40% and three 2-bedroom residential units replace an existing three-bedroom house. By comparison, in RZ1 a plot ratio of 50% is acceptable. In this design, the main house is 148m2 and each attached living unit is 100m2. It has 1 m2 of garden area for each 1 m2 of living unit - i.e. each 100 m2 dwelling has 100 m2 of garden.

This project upholds garden city principles to further enrich suburban and social assets in established precincts.

Definitely. The buildings include photovoltaic (PV) solar panels with battery storage, high-efficiency electric appliances for heating, cooling and hot water (heat pumps), and for lighting, plus rainwater harvesting. We share all-electric vehicles charged from the PV/battery system.

Passive solar design principles have been employed including insulation, thermal mass, double-glazing, shading, natural cross-ventilation, minimal areas of external paving and cool-garden design utilising deep watering methods. Solar access is controlled through the careful design of building elements, seasonal shade structures and plant species selection.

Introduction of a vegetation corridor on the full length of the north and south sides of the site along with a diversity of under-storey plantings will develop native bird habitat. All site boundaries are marked by green transition zones to meld the development with its neighbouring sites. Stepped open-ended gutters are utilised to harvest rainwater and retain on site with in-ground storage tanks for extensive use in the planted landscape and wicking beds for vegetables.

Click on the images of our plans (as at April 2022), or view the full PDF documents - Site Plan, Floor Plan, Sections, Elevations, Roof Plan, Landscape Plan.